Damon Circosta: Cost-cutting shortchanges justice

Thursday

Jun 25, 2009 at 12:01 AM

The budgets of 31 states are in crisis mode, a result of the nation's economy draining resources and shrinking revenues. North Carolina is no exception. Lawmakers are pressing to cover an anticipated $4.8 billion deficit next fiscal year.As each and every department is looking for ways to trim costs, we must think about the big picture. Cutting programs in one area might very well lead to increased costs somewhere else. Take for instance our justice system. It is more than just courts. In its broadest sense, the justice system encompasses police and detention facilities, and executive branch agencies that enforce the laws and deal with such specialized areas as worker compensation claims. It includes court-related social services, such as domestic violence service centers, drug rehabilitation programs and child welfare agencies.The justice system also complements the legislature, which creates and refines the laws that courts are charged to apply. The courts are part of the grand scheme of our nation's founders, who envisioned three cooperative branches, working together to serve the public.Recently, North Carolina legislative leaders including Speaker Joe Hackney and Sen. Dan Clodfelter traveled to Charlotte for a national summit to discuss the goal of protecting state justice systems and preserving their ability to meet citizen needs.With legislators, judges and representatives of governors from 37 states and territories among them, attendees at the summit sat down to explore how we can work together even more effectively than we have in the past. The American Bar Association and the National Center for State Courts subsidized the summit to enable as many states as possible to send delegations.An initial issue is how state justice systems are responding to the economy.In some states, criminal court services are being curtailed, with funding for prosecutors and public defenders cut. In others, courthouses are being closed partial days, or full days on varying schedules. In North Carolina, our judges are voluntarily taking the same furlough as other state employees, even though they cannot be mandated to do so.These actions clearly affect the ability to deliver justice. Diminished access to justice isn<0x00B9>t a sustainable solution and our state leaders are not taking these steps lightly. It is heartening to see that out of these difficult times a new spirit of inter-branch cooperation is emerging.But the need for cooperation in service of the public is not just an economic one. The benefits of working together for more effective government transcend mere dollars and cents.Relationship-building in such ways as legislators sitting in on court proceedings, or judges observing executive branch meetings, or agency administrators contributing language when bills are being drafted lead to more effective government. These sorts of activities take place every day around the nation.Structuring these types of activities, and making them more routine, might improve cooperation and mutual understanding. Regular meetings involving members of each branch of state government could be convened with the chair<0x00B9>s gavel rotating among branch representatives. In the short term this cooperation might yield some ways to achieve cost savings. In the long term it will produce better government.Rest assured, cooperation and understanding will never undermine the performance of its mutually exclusive role by each branch. Judges can<0x00B9>t write laws, neither can they enforce them. Legislators are not judges.Governors don<0x00B9>t have the final say on whether laws comport with the North Carolina Constitution. However, government can better serve the citizens, businesses and organizations of North Carolina by raising the level of respect and understanding each branch holds for one another.Damon Circosta is the executive director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in North Carolina.

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